15 years...

15 years ago happened the greatest day of my life...I married the most wonderful person I have ever known.
I mean that sincerely. Not one of those comments one is expected to say because, well, we've endured 15 years together. If anyone has done the enduring, it is John. He is the most patient, devoted, kind, thoughtful, hardworking, humble, sincere, forgiving, loved by everyone, exactly what he comes across, person I have had the privilege to know. 

And for some reason, he chose to take on a high maintenance, some what spoiled, obsessive compulsive, love to be in control, person like me. And he has helped me become a better person. I love him with every fiber of my being, every breath that I take, every beat of my heart. He is my best friend, my reason to breathe, the wind in my sails. I am so thankful to Heavenly Father who blessed me with this wonderful man! My sincerest prayer is that I might live worthy to have him as my husband, forever. I have said many times, for me, life can be hard, but marriage is not hard...the marriage part of life is amazing. I know there are so many who have had struggles in this area, be it divorce, lack of devotion to one or the other, or just not having found that special someone, and my heart aches for them. Such wonderful brothers and sisters we have who deserve their hearts desires, and I have asked myself so many times "Why am I so blessed?" I do not know. But the best way I can show Heavenly Father that I am thankful for this incredible blessing is to love this amazing man with all my heart, and devote my life to He who has given him to me.

And even more incredibly amazing to me is that John loves me with that same passion. Me, with all my faults! I know it with every part of my soul. I know it from the way he helps with the dishes or the vacuuming, the care he takes with our humble home, the long hours he devotes to his physically labor intensive work. I know he loves me from the time he takes to attend the temple regularly, the prayers he pleads over our family, the patient way he leads us in scripture study, the devotion he pours into his church calling. I know his love from the gentle way he takes my hand...by his commitment to date me EVERY week...from the sweet, intimate whispers in my ear...by the tender way he holds me. How blessed I am! How grateful I am.

John, I thought I loved you when I married you, and now I realize that that was nothing compared to now...and the best part is knowing that in 15 more years the love I have for you now will again be nothing compared to the love I will have for you then. Ai shite imasu!

My Wonderful Family

 This is my entire immediate family, minus my dad and grandpas. To show you how much we love each other, my grandma in the dark shirt is actually my dad's mom. But here we are all together.

 My brother Tim, my sister Heather and my sister Jenny. The people I love most in this world, except John and my children of course!

 From left to right. Back row: Moira, Selenia, Isaiah - Jenny and Ben's kids, then Spencer and Olivia.
Front row: Jacob, then Emma (Avvy between them) and James - Timmy and Chelsi's kids, and Matthew. Of my parents' 10 grandchildren, 5 of them our mine! Crazy!

 My siblings and my mom, the person who taught me more lessons in life than any other person.

 My sisters, Chelsi included!

 

 Heather and Aubrey...more accurately identified as our sister than a cousin. Love you Aubs!

    

The amazing men of my family, my brother in law Ben, my amazing husband and my sweet brother Tim in a true protective stance around my mom. Watch out would be mom snatchers, they will kick your butts!

And just for fun...

As per tradition...Dr. Seuss' Birthday

This year at school, they decided not to have a dress up day, just crazy hair day. But because of the popularity of leggings under skirts (and an awesome pair of striped pajama leggings), we kind of tricked them out. Olivia looked like she had stepped right out of Whoville!

 Matthew's head was glowing, it was so "banana"! And yes, we know his hair is supposed to be blue, but we ran out of blue hair spray and I didn't want to food color his light blond hair, blue.

 Jacob was perfectly happy with "banana" hair, just not going to "singing school".

These brothers love each other!

Matthew's 6th Birthday!

This is Mr. Popularity! Here's what's going on with Matthew...
Every day he has several friends begging to play with him...
He had a reading program created at school just for him because they don't have one for his reading level.
He's been riding his bike training wheel free for two years!
His testing scores in school are so high that they have to modify the programs for him.
He is still the peace maker, always willing to give up his toy or his candy, etc. to keep the peace.
He loves to help.
He still amazes people with his athletic abilities.
He loves to read like crazy including Harry Potter, Junie B. Jones, Flat Stanley and his scriptures.
He loves beyblades, super heroes, any sport and still wants to be Big Blue when he grows up. Great plan, it'll be a great way through college!



Traditional "sized up" pictures of him with his balloons.

 This is his rockin' new ride!

13 of Matty's darling friends came to his birthday party.

And what else can you do on a tight budget and a February morning than a pizza and movie party?!

We had a blast!

All tired out after a great day! Happy 6th birthday Little Man! We love you like crazy!

How it goes...

 When taking a two year old's pictures,

 TRY,

TRY,

(Cute picture, not so cute pose!)

 TRY, (Cry may be more appropriate!)

TRY,

 

and try some more.

  
I guess this is it!

Officially Diaper Free!

This is our latest and greatest...we are a diaper free home!!
A week and a half before her 2nd birthday, Avvy decided to potty train herself. And I finally gave in as I was down to the realization that I either had to potty train her, or duct tape her diapers on her! She chose the latter!

She is such a determined little stinker that there is no reasoning with her. When she decides something, there is NO talking her out of it!
 

She is such a bossy little mother, she frequently gets Jacob dressed in his clothes or pajamas. And more than once we have had to stop her from wiping him while he is in the bathroom doing his business!

This is our little stinker...what a personality! Can you see why I gave in to this one?

 We call her "Little Miss Sass"!

And I'm a little (teensy-tiny) bit sad about this last connection to babies in our home...but I think I'll get over it!

We love you more than anthing else in this world...

For family home evening, our lesson was about the Book of Mormon being a companion to the Bible and how blessed we are to have ongoing scripture. During the course of the lesson we touched on the fact that our Heavenly Father loves us in this day and age just as he loved those in the times of the bible and how He would not cut us off from His direction. We discussed that our Heavenly Parents love us even more than our earthly parents do. Then to help our children understand how much love that is we expressed to them how we love them more than anything in this world, how we could have everything we posses taken from us and as long as we have our children we would be fine. We told them that just as we would do ANYTHING in this world for them, our Heavenly Parents love them even more...and that's a lot! Well, I should have seen this coming, but as we tucked our kids into bed last night, kisses had been given, prayers had been said, scriptures were read, teeth were brushed, and the lights were out (and they were supposed to have gotten their cups of ice water, it's part of their responsibility/remove an excuse to get out of bed). I heard a call from the little boys' bedroom: "Mom, can I please have some ice water?" "You were supposed to have gotten your ice water before bed." There was a long pause. "Mom...do you remember how you told us that you love us more than anything...And how you would do anything in this world for us?" I began to chuckle. How could I not get him his water at that point? So I took him his water bottle and we had a quick reminder that kids love their moms and dads more than anything in this world,too!